News

On 10 November 2023, at a special ceremony held at the National Statistical Institute, the President of NSI Assoc. Prof. Atanas Atanasov, PhD awarded the winners of the 2nd National Statistical Essay Competition for students from 9th to 12th grade. This year’s competition was launched on 20 October – the European Statistics Day, and the topic students had to write on was “Possibilities of using AI for the production of statistical information”.

“Education is the key to overcoming society’s problems, as it affects all its aspects – from overcoming poverty to reducing crime rates. Education is the investment with highest benefit because the efforts made for the personal development of a child have an affect on his/her whole life. Institutions must work together to solve problems and their focus must be on the child”. This was said by the President of the National Statistical Institute Assoc. Prof.

The President of the NSI, Assoc. Prof. Atanas Atanasov, PhD participated in the 108th Annual Conference of the Directors General of the National Statistical Institutes (DGINS), which is held in Cork, Ireland on the 18th and 19th of October 2023. The topic for this year’s conference is „Official statistics in the emerging data ecosystems: opportunities and challenges in the context of climate change and energy crises“. It is hosted by Eurostat and the Central Statistical Office of Ireland.

The Deputy President of NSI Mrs. Diana Yancheva participates in the 21st International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) which is being held at the headquarters of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva, Switzerland from 11th to 20th October 2023.

The Conference, held every five years since 1923, is the main forum for labour statistics where member states discuss relevant recommendations, resolutions and standards and decide on measures to be undertaken.

The outdoor exhibition “Transforming Our World. Sustainable Development Goals 2030” is the latest initiative of the National Statistical Institute, which was opened on 2nd October in the “Crystal” garden in Sofia. The exhibition is a joint initiative of NSI and Sofia Municipality and can be visited from 2nd to 16th October.

At the invitation of the President of the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) Athanasios Thanopoulos, on 10th September the Deputy President of NSI Dr. Svilen Kolev attended the opening ceremony of the ELSTAT stand at the 87th Thessaloniki International Fair, at which this year Bulgaria is the Honored Country. At its stand, the Hellenic Statistical Authority showed the production of official statistics in Greece as well as its efforts for safeguarding and continuously improving the quality of the country’s official statistics.

Confidentiality, timeliness and innovation are among the principles to be applied when using artificial intelligence in statistical practice – the participants of the discussion titled “The role of responsible AI in official statistics” agreed on this opinion. The Forum is included in the programme of the 64th World Statistics Congress, which is held in Ottawa from July 16 to 20, 2023.

NSI’s President Assoc. Prof. Atanas Atanasov, PhD, participated in the 31-st session of the High-Level Group for Partnership, Coordination and Capacity-building for Statistics for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The forum was held in virtual format.

In the period 11 – 12 July 2023, the National Statistical Institute hosted a study visit of experts from the statistical offices of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the field of implementing standards for metadata and data exchange. The study visit was carried out under the IPA 2019 Multi-beneficiary Statistical Cooperation Programme in cooperation with the German consulting firm GOPA.

On World Chocolate Day, the National Institute of Statistics presents data on the production and sales of chocolate and chocolate products.

Note: Sweetened cocoa powder is not included in the data shown, but white chocolate is.